312 Passeres. BIRDS. TrochilidvE. 
respresentecl in the female by a few specks of the same 
colour. The tail, in both sexes, is composed of ex- 
ceedingly short feathers, which in the male are black 
and very narrow, so that when spread out they radiate 
like spokes round the posterior extremity of the body. 
In the female they are rather broader, and furnished 
with large white tips. This character of the tail is met 
with in other species of the genus Calothorax. The 
Short-tailed Woodstar is an inhabitant of Peru. 
THE SWORD-BILL {Docimastes ensiferus) is remark- 
able for the great length of its bill, which is slightly 
curved upwards, and is employed by the bird in pro- 
curing its insect food from the enormously elongated 
tubular flowers of the trumpet-flowers {Brugmansica). 
The total length of the male is eight inches and three- 
quarters, of which the bill measures four inches ; the 
female is about two inches shorter than her partner, and 
her bill only measures three inches in length. Its 
general colour is bronzed green, but it is not a brilliant 
species. This bird has been found in Bogota, Car- 
accas, and Quito. In the latter country specimens have 
been obtained at an elevation of eleven thousand to 
twelve thousand feet above the sea. 
TEMMINCK’S SAPPHIRE-WING {Pteroplianes Tem- 
minckii) is one of the finest species of this family, mea- 
suring fully six inches in length, whilst its plumage 
displays all the brilliancy which we are accustomed to 
associate with the idea of a Humming-bird. The male 
is of a grass-green colour, exhibiting a strong metallic 
lustre beneath ; the tail, which is notched or slightly 
forked at the extremity, is of a glossy olive-green 
colour, whilst the quill feathers of the wings are of a 
shining deep blue, margined and tipped with black. The 
bill, which is rather short, slender, and straight, is black. 
The female resembles the male, but has the throat 
brown. This beautiful bird is found principally on the 
Cordillera of Columbia, where it dwells at a consider- 
able elevation. 
GUERIN’S HELMET-CREST {Oxypogon Guerinii), an 
inhabitant of the higher regions of the Columbian 
Andes, is remarkable for the singular crest with which 
the head of the male is adorned. The colour of the 
upper surface is bronzed green, with the tail feathers 
coppery, striped with white down the centre ; the lower 
surface is light olive-brown, with a bronzed tinge on 
the flanks. The female is similar in these respects to 
the male, but less brilliant in her colours. The male 
is further distinguished by having a long, pointed crest 
on the head, the head and crest being blackish brown, 
with a white line running up each side of the forehead, 
uniting at the base of the crest, and passing up the 
front of the latter in a single broad line. The sides of 
the throat are also brownish-black, but the middle of 
this part is occupied by a sort of pointed white beard, 
balancing the crest on the top of the head, but exhibit- 
ing a narrow band of the most brilliant green in the 
centre. The bill is rather short, slender, and black. 
The total length of the bird is about four inches and 
a half. 
THE BLUE-TAILED SYLPH {CynanfJms cyanuvus), 
one of the most elegant species of this family, is an 
inhabitant of the lower elevations of the Andes to the 
north of the equator, in the countries of Ecuador, New 
Grenada, and Venezuela. The male measures about 
nine inches in length, including the greatly-elongated 
tail feathers with which he is adorned, and which of 
themselves are nearly six inches long. These are the 
outer feathers ; they are black at the base, and for the 
remainder of their length exhibit a rich, brilliant, 
metallic, purplish-blue colour. The rest of the tail 
feathers, which gradually diminish in length from the 
second on each side, are black at the base, becoming 
rich blue towards the tip, which bears a brilliant golden- 
green mark; the two central feathers are entirely golden- 
green. The crown of the head is also of a brilliant 
metallic-green colour, and the throat bears a small 
patch of shining blue ; the general colour of the rest of 
the plumage is bronzed green, with the wings purplish- 
brown. This beautiful bird is said to be very swift in 
its movements, its flight being very rapid and powerful ; 
and this, as remarked by Mr. Gould, is indicated by its 
general form and long forked tail. The female is far 
less brilliant than the male, and destitute of the very 
elongated tail-feathers. 
THE GREEN-TAILED SYLPH {Cynanthns smaragcU- 
caudus) is similar in many respects to the preceding, 
but exhibits no trace of blue in the tail. It is an 
inhabitant of Bolivia, and probably of a wide extent of 
the Peruvian Andes. 
THE RED FLAME-BEARER {Selasphorus rtifm). 
This elegant little species, like the Euby-throated 
Humming-bird {TrocJtilus coluhris), spreads itself over 
a vast range of latitude, passing the winter in Mexico, 
and advancing during the summer as far north as 
Nootka Sound, where it was observed in abundance by 
Captain Cook. In all its migrations it keeps strictly 
to the western side of the Rocky Mountains, and thus 
represents on the west coast of North America, the 
Euby-throat of the eastern or Atlantic districts. 
The male of this charming little species, which mea- 
sures about three inches and a half in length, has the 
upper surface cinnamon-brown, including the tail 
feathers, which are of a lanceolate form, and tipped 
with dark brown ; the wings are purplish-brown, with 
their coverts bronzed ; the throat is adorned with a 
large triangular gorget of a most brilliant golden orange- 
red; the breast is white, and the rest of the lower surface 
cinnamon brown. In some males the back is of a green 
colour ; and this is also tlie case in the females, whicli 
have the tail feathers black tipped with white, and in 
place of the brilliant gorget of the males, a fiery red 
spot on the tips of most of the feathers of the throat. 
The males are excessively quarrelsome during the 
breeding season, when their burnished gorgets look 
like a brilliant live-coal ; and they emit a sort of bleat- 
ing note which scarcely sounds like the cry of a bird. 
The}" often rise to a great height in the air, and then 
descend instantaneously almost to the surface of the 
ground ; and during this descent, according to Dr. 
Townsend, they emit “ a strange and astonishingly- 
loud note, which can be compared to nothing but tlie 
rubbing together of the limbs of trees during a high 
wind.” The nest measures two inches and a quarter 
in height, and tliree quarters of an inch in breadth at 
the top ; it is composed of mosses, lichens, and feathers, 
with a few slender root-fibres, and lined with the fine 
